By Gerardo Granados: Back in March 12 of 1988 at the Stade de Levallois, Hauts de Siene at France, the defending WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Ramirez W100-L6-D0 fought against an undefeated hungry lion named Pernell Whitaker W15-L0-0; and the result still to this date is debatable as if it was a heinous robbery or just a different appreciation from the fight judges who scored this bout a Split Decision win for Ramirez.
This might be a good fight to search for and score at home, maybe the veteran hardcore fans don’t need to do it but the younger readers might find interesting to score it and compare it with the official score cards.
I think it was a good fight, but the reader might differ about if Whitaker should have close stronger the fight or if Ramirez was the one pressuring the fight and he deserved the win. I scored it 115-113 for the better boxer Sweet Pea, who was able to move and counter with precision thru the twelve rounds to edge the victory. Although I am not a big fan of defensive boxing style the rules to score the bout are clear and unless there is a major change to the 10 point must system, giving more valor to the effective aggression or awarding an extra factor to score the round to favor the fighter who takes the risks and pressures the fight then I simply cannot comprehend how one fight judge Newton Campos scored it 118-113 for Ramirez, Louis Michel 116-115 for Ramirez and only Harry Gibbs 117-113 for Whitaker.
Next May 2 the boxing world will set his eyes on the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Manny Pacquiao bout and it is probable that the outcome could be decided by the fight judges. By now the officials and referee have not been named yet but you can bet that due the difference on the boxing styles many fight fans won’t agree on the result of the official score cards.
Of course you cannot compare Pacquiao speed, power and mobility to Ramirez pressure fighting style but this was one of those bouts when the swarmer fights an elusive boxer. Perhaps the boxing experts can analyze to the detail the difference on Floyd and Pernell defensive styles, such as Floyd being orthodox and Pernell southpaw or the way one blocks more effectively and the other slips and also bob and weaves better; but the rest of us fight fans might only need to know that both are really good defensive counter punchers.
On times you cannot avoid to let your boxing taste influence your fight scoring, if a fighter continuously shuts off the round pot punching and the other guy is the one taking the risks then at some point during the fight you could start giving more merit to the one putting the pressure. After all this is prizefighting and not the amateurs.
Do the readers remember to have scored the Ramirez vs Whitaker fight?
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